Monhegan artist Alice Boynton holds an open studio on Thursday, Aug. 31. (Christine LaPado-Breglia photo)
The art studio and gallery of painter Alice Boynton is tucked away at the end of a wooded trail near the north end of Monhegan Island, 10 miles off the coast of Maine, but still part of Lincoln County. Like everything else on the picturesque island, the journey to the destination and the destination itself are equally charming.
As expected, on Thursday, Aug. 31, Boynton was in her studio-in-the-trees, which is attached to the home she shares with her husband, fisherman Doug Boynton. Thursday is the day that Boynton, along with several other Monhegan artists, such as Joan Brady, Beth Van Houten, and Kate Cheney Chappell, hold open studio hours.
The soft-spoken, friendly Boynton has lived on Monhegan year-round since the ’70s, she said, having moved to the island from New York City’s West Side.
“I came here as a textile designer on vacation and fell in love with the place,” Boynton said.
Boynton’s lovely watercolors and oil paintings of Monhegan scenery – mostly landscapes and flowers – fill both the vertical and the horizontal spaces in her cozy studio-gallery. Boynton has a number of still-life paintings and portraits on display as well. The portraits are the result of regular portrait-painting sessions with island artists Susan Gilbert and Alison Hill.
When asked if life on Monhegan is ideal, Boynton answers easily: “Well, for me it is. It is very quiet. And it’s very accessible for someone to paint the beautiful landscape.”
Alice Boynton works on a cutting-board painting that will be a raffle prize for a Monhegan Memorial Library fundraiser. (Christine LaPado-Breglia photo)
Things do kick into a somewhat higher gear during the summer, she said. “When the boats come, it gets very busy,” said Boynton. “It certainly attracts a lot of people. There are thousands of painters who come out to paint, for a short to a long time.”
“Part of the draw for Monhegan is that three-quarters of it is privately owned, in a land trust, Monhegan Associates Inc.,” Boynton said, which preserves a great deal of the island for hiking.
Among the visitors to Boynton’s studio that day were two men from New York City, Larry Barlow and Markus Horak, who were staying at the island’s exclusive Pratt Cottage. Horak and Barlow have vacationed on Monhegan every summer for the past 10 years, except one, they said.
“It’s very relaxing, unplugged,” said Barlow, as he perused Boynton’s artwork.
“This whole place is like summer camp for adults. That’s part of the attraction,” Boynton said, before turning back to the cutting-board painting project she was working on depicting red berries on a plant that she did not know the name of.
New York City residents Larry Barlow (left) and Markus Horak visit Alice Boynton’s studio on Aug. 31. (Christine LaPado-Breglia photo)
“I’ve never worked on a cutting board before,” said Boynton of the piece that was to be raffled off as part of a Monhegan Memorial Library fundraiser. “They gave us all these different cutting boards last week and said, ‘Do something.’”
Boynton said that she mostly shows her work in her studio-gallery and at nearby Lupine Gallery, though she does show occasionally in other parts of Maine.
“I’m not all that productive,” Boynton said, though her statement seemed more modest than completely objective given the amount of work in her studio. “I paint for my own enjoyment. It’s nice to have people connect and want to buy it, but I don’t go that far afield. That’s a whole different level of pressure.”
Boynton’s open studio hours will run through mid-September and will start back up again in mid- to late May 2018. Her work can be found at Lupine Gallery when her home studio-gallery is not open.
Contact Boynton at aliceboynton@gmail.com or 594-2550.
